In today’s world we tend to live a 24/7 week where the days often seem to run together. The Monday through Friday workweek is not one that all of us have. Yet, as Jews, we are told in this week’s parsha of Vayakhel that we must not work on Shabbat (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) or we may be put to “death.” But what about those of us who have responsibilities that require us to work on Saturday? How does the modern Jew try to observe Shabbat while recognizing our 24/7 interconnected world?

First, we know that no one is put to death in contemporary society for working on Saturday – nor would we assume anyone was in the past. The Torah tries to emphasize certain acts by making the punishment severe. But why even mention this? Because Shabbat truly is the most important day of the week for any Jew. If there is one act that draws most Jews together on a frequent basis it is the observance of Shabbat – a day of rest and peace. Is this important in our modern world? Absolutely! In fact, it may be more consequential to us in our social media world than at any other time in history. It is also critical for our spiritual health, and physical health, that we slow down and put things in perspective at least once a week.

If you have to work on the traditional day of Shabbat, then make another day of the week your day of peace, reflection and spiritual growth. Go ahead and light the candles, say the blessings, and sit down to a lovely meal with challah bread on Tuesday night if you work on Saturday. It is that important. Even if you can’t do it every week, try every other week or as often as you can. Set aside that time with your spouse, with your family, with your Torah studies or anything else that will make the day special for you.

What day is Shabbat? Shabbat is whatever day that will work on your schedule. G-d gave us Shabbat, in my humble opinion, not only to think of him, but because he knew that as sentient human beings we need a day a week to sit back and reflect. We need a day that is not about making more money or getting ahead on our goals. We need a day to ponder ideas that are at a much higher level than the ordinary everyday existence of life. We need the peace of Shabbat to bring a better quality to our lives and our families.

Make Shabbat a day of renewal and spiritual rejuvenation. Whatever day you choose, as Nike says, “Just Do It!” It will make a difference in your life.

The newest multimedia project from PunkTorah, The Shabbat Evening Zine is a zine (short for “magazine”) prayerbook featuring the Friday night Shabbat service in Hebrew, English and transliteration, as well as a Havdalah service and several short essays on the meaning of Shabbat.

If 90’s riot grrl feminists, punks, indie rockers and subversive crafters had a prayerbook, this would be it!

This siddur is only $9.99, now with FREE SHIPPING. You can also order an e-reader version of the zine or a print-and-bind-it-yourself version for only $5.99. All proceeds go to PunkTorah’s general fund.

There are only 30 in stock, so don’t wait! Need more than one copy? Order more than one and we will reimburse your shipping.

Cheshvan is a month with no holidays, which makes it “Mar Cheshvan,” or bitter Cheshvan to some (there’s also the reading of the Flood — but we’ll save that for another time). For me, I think it’s a great time to breath and take stock after the whirlwind of high holiday season. In Cheshvan we’ve finished with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah and all the days in between!

In thinking about how to best use the “time off” in Cheshvan, I thought it seemed like the perfect month to explore one of the myriad of Jewish practices that we haven’t adopted into our lives. If you’re Orthodox, there’s even room for you to explore some of the more modern adaptations of traditional practices. For the rest of us, I’m guessing there’s plenty of practices we’ve heard about, thought about, and maybe even studied — but really haven’t tried out for ourselves.

To act as a guide to these practices and where to even begin, I highly recommend The Rituals & Practices of a Jewish Life: A Handbook for Personal Spiritual Renewal. I first read this book a couple of years back and decided to read it again a few weeks ago. I find it to be a very good guide to Jewish practice, and especially for how to even get started with many of these practices that can seem like a life commitment or nothing.

If even this seems overwhelming, then pick one of these two:

Weekly Shabbat

Daily Prayer

Both of those are really a cornerstone to Jewish spiritual life. I also put them in this order for a reason. I really believe that a weekly Shabbat practice is the true gateway to enhancing Jewish spiritual life. Don’t make it complicated. Don’t put barriers in your way. Just make it happen. Find a bakery to buy your challah — that’s the biggest challenge. Then every week get to that bakery and buy your challah. Then when you get home — whenever that is. Set up your candles, kiddush cup, and challah — and say the prayers. If you already do that, then consider adding additional blessings or Torah study. If you can do it for a month consistently, you’ll be amazed at how it can change your worldview.

Daily prayer is a second place to start. Thanks to Jewish prayer being three times a day, you have several choices. You can start by waking up with a single prayer from the Shacarit, or morning prayers. Pick just one to start, and consider the prayer for gratitude — Modah Ani/Modeh Ani. If you’re comfy in Hebrew, rock it! If you aren’t, then pray in English. What matters is committing to the act and seeing it through. I’d also recommend adding the Sh’ma in, because it’s the cornerstone of Jewish prayer.

If mornings aren’t your thing, then try Mincha (afternoon) or Maariv (evening) prayers. For Mincha, pick out a prayer from the prayerbook — or just take a moment and say the Sh’ma. For Maariv, again — you can just say the Sh’ma, but there’s also a host of other great bedtime prayers to choose from, or you could go crazy and do the whole thing! Needless to say, Ahava Rabbah: The OneShul Community Siddur 5772 has plenty of great options to help you along.

Whatever you do, use this break we find in Cheshvan to explore a new practice, and then tell us about your experience!

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Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and purchases provide a few pennies to Ketzirah. For any purchases made directly from links on PunkTorah posts, Ketzirah will make a $1 donation back to PunkTorah.

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Carly Lesser (a.k.a. Ketzirah – קצירה) is Kohenet, Celebrant and Artist whose passion is helping Jews who are unaffiliated, earth-based or in interfaith / inter-denominational relationships connect more deeply with Judaism and make it relevant in their every day lives. She is an active blogger and prayer leader on OneShul.org andPeelaPom.com.

“Everyone in the world should have a Shabbos nap.” The G-d Project is the world’s first social media platform dedicated to Jewish spirituality. We bring God back to the conversation. www.theg-dproject.org.

I’m very excited to announce that beginning this month, I’ll be leading Rosh Chodesh services at OneShul.org. OneShul is a cyber-shul, and if that sounds nuts — trust me it works! The services are streamed live, and you participate via a chat feature. I attended their first ever Kabbalat Shabbat this past friday and was pleasantly surprised by what a lovely, real experience it was.

Because Rosh Chodesh falls on Shabbat this month, it will be a combined Kabbalat Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh service. We’ll be using the OneShul Siddur this month for Kabbalat Shabbat — if you don’t have one you can easily purchase one, or they have a great feature where the siddur just appears on the page for you, which means you don’t have to buy one. But of course, I’ll be weaving in some fabulous Kohenet versions of the chants and songs.

The Rosh Chodesh portion will be based on the ritual I used with the group I hosted at my home for about a year, modified for this environment. Here’s the insert if you want to download it now (pdf). This insert is an outline, but I expect, depending on time and interest that we’ll also talk about the month ahead (Adar I).